2014 elections

Races to watch in Hawaii

Elections for the office of Hawaii State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 9, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature-filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014. Heading into the election, the Democratic Party controlled the chamber. The following table details the 10 districts with the smallest margin of victory in the November 6, 2012, general election.

The special election was held to fill the vacancy left by the death of Senator Daniel Inouye (D).

On June 17, 2013, the HawaiiDemocratic Party filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to close its primary to all except registered Democrats.[3]Hawaii does not ask voters to choose a party when they register to vote. This was the first time any state Democratic Party had ever filed a lawsuit to close an open primary.[4]

The winner of the contested Democratic primary was a favorite for the general election in the heavily Democratic state.[5]

Race background

Senator Daniel Inouye died December 17, 2012, 50 years after he was first elected to represent Hawaii in the U.S. Senate. He was the longest serving sitting Senator in U.S. history.[19] According to Hawaii law, Gov.Neil Abercrombie (D) was required to appoint someone to the open seat until the special election in 2014. The appointee had to be one of three names submitted by the state party of the incumbent. Inouye gave his preference for his successor in a letter to Abercrombie, in which Inouye listed Colleen Hanabusa as his pick to replace him in the U.S. Senate. RepresentativeHanabusa topped the list of early contenders.[8]

The fiscal cliff votes gave Abercrombie a very narrow window to appoint another Democrat to Inouye's seat.[20][21] On December 26, 2012, the governor tapped his Lieutenant Governor, Brian E. Schatz (D), to fill the vacancy, denying Inouye's deathbed request that Hanabusa should succeed him.[22]

On May 3, 2013, the widow of HawaiiSenatorDaniel K. Inouye endorsed Hanabusa’s bid against Sen.Brian Schatz (D), a move she said honors one of the late senator’s “last requests.”[28] In a statement Irene Hirano Inouye said, “Shortly after she was elected President of the Hawaii State Senate, Dan recognized that Colleen was more than capable of succeeding him and he began to mentor her. His last wish was that Colleen serve out his term because he was confident in her ability to step into the Senate and immediately help Hawaii. I am honoring one of his last requests, and look forward to supporting Colleen on the campaign trail.”[28]

Both candidates came to the race with their own strengths: Schatz, as an incumbent, started off with the fundraising advantage and inherited a team of national strategists and consultants to run his campaign.[29]Hanabusa, on the other hand, is better known within the state and tapped into the network and political organization Inouye left behind.[29]

Voting early

Hawaii is one of 34 states that has early voting with no specific requirements as to who can vote early. Early voting begins 14 days before an election and ends three days prior to Election Day.[65] The average number of days prior to an election that voters can cast an early ballot is 21 days in states with a definitive starting date.

Elections Performance Index

Hawaii ranked 45th out of the 50 states and District of Columbia in the Pew Charitable Trusts' Elections Performance Index (EPI), based on the 2012 elections. The EPI examines election administration performance and assigns an average percentage score based on 17 indicators of election performance. These indicators were chosen in order to determine both the convenience and integrity of these three phases of an election: registration, voting and counting. Hawaii received an overall score of 54 percent.[66]